There is an ever increasing need for high speed and high performance computer networks which can support high bandwidths. Ethernet is a commonly used technology for such high speed and high performance computer networks. Ethernet systems can be based on IEEE 802 standards, and typically employ several layers of hardware resources to enable network switching and routing functions. The well known open systems interconnect (OSI) 7-layer reference model specifies inter alia, a physical layer which defines electrical and physical specifications for devices connected to a network and a data link layer which specifies functional and procedural means for transferring data between network devices and entities. Ethernet technology can span both of these layers, and generally include hardware devices such as routers, repeaters, bridges, switches, blades, ports, etc.
In general, the devices in an Ethernet switch assembly system tend to follow a hierarchical structure. For example, a chassis is a frame or box which can support mounting of components of a device. The chassis can have multiple blades or “line blades.” Ports may be connected to the line blades. Hardware devices, such as, end user network devices like personal computers, can be connected to the ports.
Representatively, the one or more chassis may make up a root level in a network fabric, one or more levels of blades may be branches, and one or more ports and devices connected thereto may comprise leaves. However, conventional management of resources tends to be compartmentalized. For example, each component such as a chassis, line blade, port, etc., is allocated a predefined amount of resources in terms of, for example, number of ports, bandwidth, etc. This leads to an overly restrictive provisioning of resources, as each component needs to draw from a static pool of resources that are pre-allocated to that component. This kind of management is inflexible, and does not allow easy sharing or realigning of resources among the multiple levels in a switch assembly system. As a result, the resources in the system cannot adapt effectively to widely divergent needs of components which are connected to the switch assembly system.
Moreover, different types of applications may be supported by a switch assembly system. For example, in the context of a typical home, an Ethernet switch assembly may support types of applications directed to connecting to external networks such as, the Internet and managing interconnections between various home devices, such as, multimedia consoles, printers, personal computers, etc. Each of these types of applications may require different resources at each level, and sometimes, resource requirements of each type of application may be in conflict. Conventional management of resources at a leaf level or line blade level based on pre-allocated resource quotas can be extremely inefficient in some scenarios.
In other words, the current infrastructure lacks efficient techniques to manage system resources in a finely tuned manner and adapt to dynamic and variant needs of system resources at each level in a multi level switch assembly system.